Sunday, September 2, 2012

Two recent statements by US officials have me wondering if
we are seeing a subtle shift in US-Israeli relations. One is that for the first
time, acts of violence by Israeli “settlers” against Palestinian residents of
the West Bank have been described by the State Department as “terrorist
incidents”; the second is a statement made by the US ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapirowho said that an official Israeli
investigation into the death of American activist Rachel Corrie in 2003 was not
“thorough, credible and transparent.”

Corrie was only 23 when she was
crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer as she and others tried to stop
the demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. The action
prompted international outrage and became a rallying point for those protesting
the Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli
government promised a full investigation into the incident (a “thorough,
credible and transparent” investigation, which Amb. Shapiro referenced in his
statement).But last week, Israel closed
the formal investigation, concluding it was an accident, but also chiding the
now-dead Corrie for inserting herself into a war zone.

Turning back to the terrorist declaration against the Israeli settlers, the State Department took the move
after recent attacks by groups of young settlers against Palestinians,
including attacks on mosques, beatings and one particularly brutal incident:
the firebombing of a Palestinian taxi that left six people injured, including
two four-year old twins.The State
Department's Country Reports on Terrorism for 2011 included: “Attacks by
extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian residents, property and places
of worship in the West Bank.” According to the United Nations, which monitors
conditions in the West Bank and Gaza, attacks by Israeli settlers against
Palestinians have increased by almost 150% between 2009 and the end of 2011.

It is important to note that the
State Department isn't going out on much of a limb here. The Israeli media and
government have been growing increasingly concerned about the actions of
extremist settlers, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the
fire-bomb attack of the taxi and other government officials have used the word
terrorism when referring to some of the actions taken by a subset of extremist
Israeli settlers (though the Israeli government supports the expansion of more
“mainstream” Israeli settlements in the West Bank).

But given how reluctant the US
typically is to criticize the actions of Israel, it is then quite noteworthy
that officials with the US government would, in the space of a week, use the
word “terrorism” when referring to the actions of Israeli settlers and would
condemn an official report by the Israeli government. Could it be the sign of a
subtle shift in US-Israeli relations? Only time will tell.

Mission Statement

Why A World View? Because I was frustrated by the lack of international news coverage in the American press. Sadly, foreign events usually only make the news when there’s a war or natural disaster someplace. But the world is more interconnected than ever, what happens on the other side of the globe can have a direct affect on your life. So I started this site to cover some of these stories missed by the mainstream media, and to provide analysis and context to others. And my goal is to do it in a way that you don’t feel like you need a PhD degree to understand what’s going on.